Student Outcomes

In the USA and the UK, HeartMath programs have resulted in lowered stress in students, improved psychosocial behaviour and improved academic outcomes.

HeartMath and Learning

There is a direct link between a student’s ability to self-manage emotions, and academic performance. Emotions also drive attention, which is the key mechanism for learning and memory.

HeartMath research has identified a specific physiological state that underlies optimal learning and performance. In this state, our brain, nervous system, body, and emotions are synchronized. This results in ‘cortical facilitation’ which greatly improves our ability to focus, learn, perceive, feel, reason and perform at our best.

HeartMath skills increase students’ ability to recognise stress and to self-manage emotionally. Students learn to clear the emotional baggage that accumulates in their day to day lives.

Emotional Intelligence drives learning

Students who become more self-aware and socially and emotionally competent become more confident about their learning abilities. They tend to try harder, motivate themselves, set goals, organise their approach to study, and perform better.

Research is showing that it’s the cumulative emotional stress from family issues, peer pressures, overwhelm, and boredom that increases resistance to learning and ‘mental blocks’ under exam conditions. These pressures can erode self-motivation, and especially stifle the motivation to learn. Unresolved emotional turbulence leads to frustration, poor decisions, and sub-optimal exam performance. Anxiety is a primary cause of lowered academic performance.

Behavioural Changes

Middle school students enrolled in a HeartMath self-management skills course at Palm Springs, Florida, exhibited significant improvements in areas including stress management, risky behavior, work management and focus, and relationships with teachers, family and peers.
Teachers at Portsmouth (UK) primary schools participating in the Portsmouth Discovery Project have reported improvements in student classroom behaviour and increased motivation for participation in tests. Click here to download the Discovery Brochure

Twenty high school students who received a 3-week training in HeartMath learning enhancement skills demonstrated substantial improvements in test scores and passing rates on state-required Math and Reading tests. Students also experienced significant reductions in hostility, depression interpersonal sensitivity and other key indicators of psychological distress after learning HeartMath skills. As at Minnesota State Schools ]

Skill Development with emWave software

Using emWave software, a unique interactive learning system, students learn how to stabilise their emotions and nervous systems. This technology was created especially to help balance behavioural difficulties associated with peer pressure, anxiety and stimulation overload. The emWave benefits students in their home environment as much as in the classroom.

 

The emWave
The emWave is a unique interactive learning system with a patented heart rhythm monitor. It uses a fingertip sensor to objectively monitor the heart rhythm and confirm when students are in the coherent mode – in sync. It helps them learn to self-generate physiological stability and coherence and to track their progress. The emWave is very different from devices that simply measure heart rate. It measures the subtle beat-to-beat changes in heart rate and shows the rhythmic patterns as they develop over time. This is called heart rate variability (HRV) analysis.

Using the emWave, students learn how to stabilise their emotions and nervous systems at will, even under test conditions which would have otherwise caused high anxiety, robbing them of their mental clarity.

The emWave has been successfully used in diverse settings by mental health professionals, teachers, school counselors, and students interested in advancing their personal and academic development. As one specialist noted, "I have seen remarkable improvements in students' attention, performance and behavior in the classroom in just a few sessions."

Students using HeartMath skills and the emWave Interactive Learning System experience:

• Reduced performance anxiety
• Increased clarity in decision making
• Management of overwhelm and easier aligning of priorities between school, home, sports, relationships
• Ability to overcome peer pressure, and relationship problems in school and family
• Increased self confidence in dealing with life challenges
• Improved academic performance